WEBVTT - Why Steve Bannon Got Arrested 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:08.000 M hm, pods of the cast ship. Um, that wasn't 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:11.119 that was just sounds. That was just mouth Sounds like 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.080 a great album by Neil Sister Riga who you should 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.919 which you should check out. This is Robert Evans introducing 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:21.799 his podcast Behind the Bastards very poorly. Uh, Miles, please 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.799 come in and save me from Hello, Bobby, good to 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.040 be here. Miles Gray, coming in alive and direct from 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.320 the city of assholes, I mean angels. Miles. When you 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:38.080 when you did your podcast training, which day did they 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:42.520 teach you how to do something besides grunt incoherently while 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:46.160 introducing a podcast, I don't know. I mean, I'm I'm 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:50.639 not look full disclosure. I faked all my podcast education. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:59.680 See you an unlicensed podcaster? I mean, look, god damn it, 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:03.279 I did. I did. I just had a mic and 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.680 someone's like, hey, you're a guy you podcast. I'm like, yes, 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:09.640 that is how it works. That is just how it works. 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.240 If you're a guy, you you're given a podcast. In 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.520 the early days and they weren't even given It was 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:16.959 just a bunch of like like zombies with Mike's being 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.399 like have this podcast. You're now endorsed by this company 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:23.520 that mails you things that you used to buy from 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:32.520 the CVS right yeah. Podcast. Speaking of grifts, Miles, do 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:36.160 you remember that Build the Wall We the people will 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.880 Build the Wall go fund me that raised million dollars? 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.720 How could I forget something that on its face was 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:47.360 like immediately visible that this was scan It was such 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.840 a beautiful So we did an episode about this, which 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.200 you can check out. Katie and Cody were the guests 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:57.160 on that one. I think, um and I don't like 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.480 them anymore because I work with them on another podcast, 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.480 so like them, we're angry at each other. Now now 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:09.560 let's they're just it's they were they're podcasting too much. Um. 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.400 So we we talked about them, and basically the gist 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:14.320 of it is that this guy, Brian cole Fage, who 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:16.600 was like he likes to brand himself as the most 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:20.320 severely injured airman in the U S air man in Iraq, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:22.400 which might be true. I mean, I don't know how 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.680 you like measured that, but he was like horrifically wounded. 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:26.520 He was on his way to the gym on a 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.280 base in the Green Zone when a mortar landed right 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.400 next to him and he lost his legs and like 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:35.320 part of an arm like that, he got really fucked up, um, 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:39.079 like about as badly as you can without dying. Um. 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.480 So he came back home and he started like a 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.960 fake news empire on Facebook with like all these right 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.400 wing news websites, and he's making quite a bit of 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.320 money before Facebook shut his whole network down because it 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.120 was like he was breaking their terms of service a 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.959 bunch um with like a bunch of coordinated and authentic 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:01.240 activity and stuff, oh like all the yeah, yeah, So 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.280 they shut him down and when his money's biggott got 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.919 turned off and there's like articles from people who worked 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:08.320 at them at the time he said that guy has 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:10.760 a horrible temper. He could get like violent and stuff 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.200 at the drop of a hat. He's he's just a 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.040 very unpleasant person. Um. Which you know, I'm sure some 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:21.560 of that's horrific trauma, but it doesn't excuse grifting thousands 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:23.040 of people, which is what he did next. So he 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.680 created a go fund me for we the People will 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.400 Build the Wall. There's now confirmed evidence that they were 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.799 talking with members of the Trump administration. They had like 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.040 meetings with them. There was talk of like trying to 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.760 figure out how to take the funds that they got 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.120 and roll it over or like you know, there was 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.080 there was official correspondence that they had with members of 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.160 the Trump campaign and likes or the Trump team. And 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.480 as soon as like this thing took off, which you know, 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.240 it was pretty much immediately making raising millions of dollars, 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.920 a bunch of other famous right wing grifters got on board, 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:56.280 including our old buddies Steve Bannon. Eric Prince was on 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.120 the board of the foundation they set up to deal 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:04.160 with the money. So like basically when it became clear that, um, 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.080 you know, so the initial idea was like, we're going 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:07.800 to raise money to give to the government so that 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.600 they can build this wall because the damn Libs won't 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.520 give it to us. Yeah, and that it became clear 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.360 that like that's not really how the government works, Like 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.600 you can't just you can't just go fund me. Um, 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.479 a border wall that would be number one involved like 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.080 building on massive amounts of private land and like all 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.080 of this ship like you just it's not a thing 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.880 that gets to be done. Um. So they changed the 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.320 focus of it to like we're going to actually build 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.720 the wall. Um. And they they you know, because they 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.479 were altering sort of the nature of what they were doing. 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.640 Go fund Me allowed people to kind of opt in 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.720 to continue having their money roll over into the new 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:49.960 thing that they were doing, and most people who donated 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.200 agreed to do it. There's a bunch of shady stuff, 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.200 and like their explanation of what they were doing, including 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.080 the point that like the money will be used either 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.440 to actually construct the wall or to engage in you know, 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:01.839 lobbying or whatever that will help to construct the wall. 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:03.680 So there's like a bunch of stuff where it's like, oh, 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:06.760 so you're going to became very clear, like you're going 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.040 to find ways to put this in the pockets of 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.679 the very famous right wing people who have all leapt 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.359 onto this program, including Steve Bannon and Eric Prince. And 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.360 you know, one of the things they repeatedly stated when 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.880 this all happened is that Brian Colefaje, who was founder 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:21.680 and the face of the thing, was not going to 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.320 receive any money. UM, would not be paid, wasn't going 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.640 to make any a dime off of this. It was 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:29.200 just you know, doing it out of the goodness of 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.880 his heart. UM. And then uh, last week, Uh, all 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:39.239 of these guys got arrested UM, which is the best 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:41.760 thing that's ever happened that Steve Bannon has now for 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:46.640 more than a week been incarcerated. Um, it just it 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.960 just slaps unbelievably hard. The thing with that though, like 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.920 listening to these people, knowing Eric Prince is on that board, right, 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.640 he should know better than you, should know better than 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:02.039 anyone that like building like sical infrastructure on like in 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.719 the United States is probably a long shot, Like he 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.680 you have a better chance crowdfunding a private air force. 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.200 I feel like then being like, yeah, we're just gonna 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.680 build chunks of border wall because you know, fucking America. 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.600 I'm a little disappointed in Eric, you know what I mean, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.520 Like he should he knows, out of anyone, if you're 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.440 gonna pull some wildly illegal kind of stuff where you're 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.480 trying to take the place of the government, you gotta 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.920 start up, you gotta you gotta be a little more surgical. Yeah, 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.839 I mean, but he doesn't, like he's he he's committed 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.120 so many more blatant crimes to this, and he always 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.480 gets away with it because he's a billionaire. Um that said, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.279 I don't think he was super involved with this. Um 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:42.279 like this was like legitimized side piece for him. Yeah yeah, um, 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.120 you know, but it is. It is. So it's turned 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.480 into this amazing story where like again like the fucking 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.520 Steve Bannon's got arrested as a result of this, there's 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:54.120 pictures of him now fucking in handcuffs and it's it's 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.159 one of the best things that's ever happened. And it 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.320 was the best thing about it is that it was 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.839 like the Postal Services Investigative Unit, which is the first 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.080 federal law enforcement agency we all learned when they arrested 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.480 Steve Bannon. Um damn. So I guess, I guess I'll 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.880 say maybe not all cops are bad, like we've we've 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.480 got like I'm willing to make an exception for the 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.840 post Office cops given what happened recently exactly. And then 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.280 like we said, like even with the post Office under fire, 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:23.840 like if we're going to back the blue, is going 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.240 to be the Postal Service, Yeah, it's gonna be the 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.120 These are the ones I'm I'm I'm I'm a hundred 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:33.240 percent supportive of arresting Steve Bannon on a yacht. Cut 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.239 to some like wild clip of like postal like postal 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.240 police brutality, and you're like, what even y'all, I thought 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.320 you were the mail cops. No, that's they actually committed 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.320 genocide against all these different tribes. I don't know that 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.160 I've never heard that the post Office committed genocide, but like, 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.680 let's be honest, it wouldn't be the most surprising thing 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:56.120 in American history. Um, but that I let's not make 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:01.440 random allegations of genocide against the Postal Service. Yeah, let's 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.120 let We've got the charging document, which is the it's 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.520 basically like a podcast episode written by a United States 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.080 district court, in this case, the Southern District of New York, 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.720 UM to summarize the government's case against all of the 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.160 crime doer spied. The we the people will build the 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.240 wall con um and I'm just gonna start reading it 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.080 to you. Miles will skim some parts of it when 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:27.400 it gets boring, but like, in fact, I'm just gonna read. 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:31.560 I'm just gonna get me. I'm like because I love 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.680 sometimes you know that these cases, especially in this Trump era, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:39.319 where just the like legal description of your like these amazing. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.840 How did they think any of this was going to 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.760 work or they weren't going to get caught? I mean, 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.040 the thing that's more amazing to me is that they 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.280 did get caught. Like clearly, whatever else is going on 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.000 in the world, Steve Bannon and Brian cole Fage did 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:57.240 not have the the cloud they thought they had, because 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.600 they thought they had the cloud that like Roger Stone has, 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.240 where we can commit blatant crimes and we will get 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.040 forgiven for it um or will they'll be too scared 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:07.760 of us to go after us. And it just wasn't 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:11.120 true for them. And I don't know why entirely, but 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:15.000 it's beautiful. Yeah, maybe it was that it was too blatant. 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:16.880 Maybe it was that, you know, they didn't kiss the 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.360 right asses. I don't know what the the explanation is, 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.240 but let's let's get into it. The grand jury charges 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:27.600 one Brian Colfage, Stephen Bannon, Andrew Battle Laddo, and Timothy Shay. 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.960 The defendants and others orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.120 of thousands of donors, including donors in the Southern District 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.080 in New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.679 ultimately known as We Build the Wall that raised more 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:41.840 than twenty five million dollars to build a wall along 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.720 the southern border of the United States to induce donors 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.560 to donate to the campaign. Colfage and Bannon, each of whom, 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.480 as detailed here in exerted significant control over We Build 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.520 the Wall, repeatedly and falsely assured the public that Colfage 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.280 would quote not take a penny and salary or compensation, 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.320 and that quote one percent of the funds raised will 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.920 be used in the execution of our mission and purpose, because, 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:12.320 as Bannon publicly stated, we're a volunteer organization. These representations 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:16.360 were false in truth. Brian cole Fage, Stephen Bannon, Andrew 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.600 battle Otto, and Timothy Shay, the defendants, collectively received hundreds 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.800 of thousands of dollars and donor funds from We Buld 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.520 the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:28.840 with the organization's public representations. In particular, call Fas covertly 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.400 took more than three hundred fifty thousand dollars and funds 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.080 that had been donated to we Buld the Wall for 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.560 his personal use. Well, Bannon, through a nonprofit organization under 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.920 his control, Nonprofit One, received over a million dollars from 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.679 We Build the Wall, which Bannon used to, among other things, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.480 secretly pay coal fag and to cover hundreds of thousands 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:49.880 of dollars and Bannons personal expenses. Dude was his thing 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.079 on nonprofit. Oh, that was just in the charging documents. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.680 It's non problem I thought of, which makes sense because 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.320 it's a legal document. I was hoping that Steve bann 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.360 is like such a lazy Skimer, that he's like a funk. 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.559 I gotta put a nonprofit together to fucking be able 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:05.640 to move this money around. I call it a nonprofit one. 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.480 It's like my idea. I've always wanted to create an 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:12.040 LLC for a variety of reasons and call it unlimited 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.880 liability because there's something in my brain that enjoys the 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:21.640 idea of unlimited liability. A limited liability corporation funlimited liability. 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:25.280 To conceal the payments to co Fage from We Build 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.000 the Wall call Fage, Bannon, bat Lato, and Shade devised 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.320 a scheme to route these payments from We Build the 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:33.040 Wall to co Fage indirectly through a nonprofit and a 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.480 shell company under Shay's control, among other avenues. They did 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:39.800 so by using fake invoices and sham vendor arrangements, among 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.040 other ways, to ensure as co Fage noted in a 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.720 text message to batt Alato that his pay arrangement remained 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:50.160 confidential and kept on a need to know basis. So again, 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.280 committing crimes and texting about it, Yeah, what a hallmark 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.160 of of this group of people, just like yeah, yeah this, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.679 we make our own receipts here. I have. I know 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.400 so many people that like, because of the protests, like 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:08.120 won't text message about the shield materials that they're like 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.760 gathering so that people can build like defensive devices to 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.880 protect themselves from impact weapons. Like they're paranoid about like 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:21.240 gathering fucking uh like rubber and and foam inserts and stuff. Um, 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.280 And these guys are just like, yeah, I gotta go 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.160 steal a million dollars, you guys, Like here's that we're 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.840 doing it right, And also use this fake vendor like 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.800 like weet up to illegally funnel money through to do 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.640 this illegal thing that we're all doing together. You guys 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.840 all down for the illegal crimes that we're committing. It's 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.400 so easy to be a conservative. We are defrauding the 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.960 American people with our build a wall scheme. Please like, 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.760 please use the tap back in your messages app and 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.600 your iPhone to confirm your that you were culpable. I 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:58.200 know people who live in paranoia because they're getting followed 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.960 as a result of bringing water every night to two 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:09.040 demonstrations and like this ship nonsense, fucking hell. On or 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.280 around December seventeen, two thou eighteen, Brian call Fage, the defendant, 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.400 with the assistance of others, launched a fundraising campaign originally 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.520 called We the People Build the Wall on a crowdfunding website. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.400 The crowdfunding websites that's referred to in the document, it's 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.679 go fund me. According to statements on the web page 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.520 for we the People Build the Wall on the crowd 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.040 funding website, it's just so very funny. It just looks 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:33.080 very silly, and you can't you can't say that without laughing. Yeah, 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.320 the crowd funding website, the crowd Like come on, guys, 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.720 this is like, yeah, this is like when a fucking 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.719 movie uses some sort of fake Google thing, like the 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.080 Researcher or whatever. It's like, come on, guy, we know 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.960 it's Google. The campaign was raising funds to donate to 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.199 the United States federal government for construction of a wall 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.000 at the southern border of the United States. The web 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.960 page also stated that your donations would be given to 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:55.679 the government for the construction of a wall, and that 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:57.920 if the campaign could not attain its goal, it would 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.000 refund every single penny. The We the People Build the 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.000 Wall campaign was an immediate fundraising success. Within the first week, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.640 Brian cole Fage, the defendant, with the assistance of Timothy Shay, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.679 the Defendant, raised approximately seventeen million dollars. Despite its early success, 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.600 the campaign also drew scrutiny, including questions about call flag 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:15.800 is background and the campaign's planned to give the money 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.640 raised to the federal government. Based on those concerns, In 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.760 or around December two thousand eighteen, go fund Me, which 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.960 they crowdfunding website, suspended the campaign, which by that point 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.120 had raised more than twenty million dollars, and warned Brian 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.200 call Fage, the defendant, that unless he identified a legitimate 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.120 nonprofit organization into which these funds could be transferred, the 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.400 crowdfunding website would return the funds. At around the same time, 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.240 Brian cole Fage, that defendant, involved Stephen Bannon and Andrew 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.320 battle Lotto, the defendants and the leadership of the campaign. Bannon, 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.640 a political strategist and former media executive and Battle Lotto, 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.880 an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. We're already working together on 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.600 nonprofit one, which was a separate Section five oh one 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:56.000 C four organization founded by Bannon with the stated purpose 0:14:56.000 --> 0:15:01.360 of promoting economic nationalism and American sovereignty. Fascist. We can 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:07.520 go that one. Fascism, economic nationalism, fascist, and he uses 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:12.880 his fun fancy fascist nonprofit to funnel donations into illegally, 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:17.240 which is just very on brand. Within days of becoming involved, 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.640 Stephen Bannon and Andrew battleaddo that defendants took significant control 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.680 of the fundraising campaigns, organization, and day to day activities. 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.640 So basically they took They immediately took control of We 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.200 the People Will Build the Wall. Um. And by like 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:33.520 late December two thousand eighteen, um, they were basically in charge. 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.440 And they created a new five O one C four 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:37.920 called We Build the Wall, Inc. And they proposed that 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.920 the money you know, would be transferred there um and 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:45.960 the nonprofit we build yeah, yeah, nonprofit to build to 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:50.800 to finance private construction of a wall along the southern border. Um. 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.240 So yeah, And they gave a bunch of assurances to 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.720 go fund me uh that like this was all legitimate 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.360 and the money would all go to act like to this, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:01.480 to this new five of one C four they'd founded 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.440 UH in order to induce UH go fund me to 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:08.080 release the donor funds. UH. These insurances include I'm quoting again. 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.000 These assurances included, among other things, written by laws with 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.760 conflict of interest provisions and compensation restrictions precluding insiders like 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.160 call Fage, among others, from inappropriately misusing donor funds. And 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.640 I promise that call Fage will take no salary and 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.680 will personally not take a penny of compensation from these donations. 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.920 Call Fage, Bannon and Battlelato also agreed that donors would 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.560 have to opt in too, having their contribution redirected from 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.239 the crowdfunding website to we build the wall. So they 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.840 they hung themselves here. They like, they made a legal 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.840 document promising that in no way would among other things, 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.400 call Fage get any money from this, because it was 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.600 the only way to get the money, and they just 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.880 assumed it would be fine because so many other crimes 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.640 that these people and their friends committed were fine. It's 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.960 just like like how scumbag men think to like with sex. 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:55.960 It's like, well, what I gotta say to have sex, 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:58.000 you know, and after that may not mean it, but 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.920 I'm so just shortsighted about my own gratification. I will 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.320 deceive and lie just to get there without any thinking 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.040 of like where that goes after the fact. And I 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.680 just love that, like this scam is so fucking American, 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.359 and that like your weaponizing like the fear of black 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.560 and brown people to then enrich yourself, and like when 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.320 really you could give a fuck about any of it 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:21.720 aside from purely as being like, oh this is great 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.440 as a great group of just dummies to just rintse. Yeah, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.320 it's it's evidence of what those of us who are 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:33.240 are vaguely aware of like objective reality, um, have known 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.960 for a long time, which is that like almost none 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.959 of these fascists, with the exception of really like Stephen 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.840 Miller and a couple others, almost none of them believe 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.199 in what they're saying. It's just the best way to 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.840 get what they want, which is money and power. Like 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.680 if these guys, if their primary concern was a legal immigration, 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.280 they would have tried to use they would have used 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:57.080 this money to in some way fuck over migrants, right, 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.199 Like whether or not it was the wall, that's what 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.880 they would have done this huge amount of money, um, 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.800 and they would have gotten nothing but praise from the donors, 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.439 even if it wasn't a wall, even it was some 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.680 other way of hurting these people. Um, But they didn't 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.639 even really care about hurting those people. They just wanted 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:17.200 to steal. And it's awesome. It's so good that in 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.320 this one rare instance, they faced consequences. Yeah, I mean 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.639 you hate to see it and you love to see it. Yeah, 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:29.080 you know, it's it's yeah, it's so good. It's so audacious. 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.679 But again, I don't know what. Ever, every time, like 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.440 even when whenever I come on this show, it's I'm 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:39.240 always like, damn, the audacity of these But that really 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:43.080 is the true DNA of a true historical piece of ship. Bastard, 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.359 is you really you have us. You're just all about 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:50.159 yourself and there's absolutely zero consideration for anything aside for 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:55.240 your own it's like just your very own personal lived experience. Yeah, 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:59.080 And it works for them usually because it's an effective 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:03.280 strategy in winning in our system, is to only give 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.439 a shit about yourself and be like sociopathically dedicated to 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:10.679 nothing but your own enrichment, right, Like that works in 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:15.959 a lot of ways, except for occasionally you get arrested 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.320 on a yacht by the post Office. Got to be 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:22.879 like you no way, I wonder if you're pissed, You're like, fuck, 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.080 it's it would be at least like the FEDS or 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.480 something like the bed FEDS. It's did you have to 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.960 wear that hat to I hope they did. I hope 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.600 they're They're exactly the same as a normal swat team, 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.200 but with the hats just and not even the tach gear, 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.760 Like they don't even have weapons. They're just like very 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.679 coordinated group of mail carriers that are like or if 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:44.680 we can do this without what would I wouldn't funk 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.159 with a group of mail delivery I mean essentially, I 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.240 mean that work for the postal service too. I'm like, 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:53.240 you're actually dealing with people with some experience in the 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:58.919 military as well. So yeah, so man uh. Beginning in 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.200 January too, that and nineteen, the defendants caused we Build 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:05.240 the Wall to mislead donors, promising them repeatedly that a 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.919 hundred percent of the funds would be used for construction 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.480 of a wall, and that call Fage in particular, would 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.040 take no salary or compensation, and obviously contrary to this, 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.480 they were immediately misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars and 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.520 funds for their own benefit. Beginning on around January eleventh 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.119 to that's and nineteen, and consistent with the insurances provided 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.760 to the crowdfunding website, we Build the Wall announced that 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:27.879 it had changed its mission to the private construction of 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.160 a wall and that donors needed to opt in. Uh. Yeah, 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.040 and and and that worked out. Um. And it seemed like, 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.760 you know, the document is alleging that this worked because 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.119 of their promise that a hundred percent of the funds 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.040 raised would be used towards the construction of a wall 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:43.400 and that not a penny would be used to compensate colvage. 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.680 They repeatedly made these preperation, like they're standing basically over 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.960 and over again. They couldn't stop making these promises. And 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:53.040 they're making these promises is why so many people willing 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.040 to like donate the money. Um. And it's why it's 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:58.480 so easy for us to prove that they repeatedly broke 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.880 the broke the law. Yeah, I'm sure like the comments 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.040 of the Trump family helped too, because I remember, like 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:06.240 don J was like, look at you, look at this 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:10.119 man like this is an example of American enterprise or 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.680 some ship and like the whole he's a hero. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.000 he's gonna there's doing it better, faster and cheaper than 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:21.040 anything else. Like yeah, definitely cheaper and ship than anything else. 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:23.520